Reading in January 2009

Hobbit

Hobbit

Cat Wrangler and Reader
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Jul 16, 2001
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Hello all: Happy New Year to one and all from SFFWorld!

Christmas is now pretty much over. Hopefully you got lots of books to read, or are about to buy in the sales!

Consequently, this is where you tell us what you're reading in SF this month. Good or bad, please let us know what you thought.

In a similar way, the first part of our usual (but in this case, 2008) review is now up HERE. Say what you think HERE. The rest of the review (SF, Film, 2009 hopes) will appear in the next few days. We like to keep things to their appropriate times, you see...

You might also want to make your choices known HERE in Rob's 'Favourite Reads' mega-vote, and also HERE, looking forward to 2009.

Over to the Book Clubs....

The Fantasy Book Club discussion is on a recent book publication: Melusine by Sarah Monette.

Best wishes for the New Year!

Mark / Hobbit
 
No new SF books for Christmas :( but now was a good time to pick up Blish's Case of Conscience. Very good so far, and I'll admit not at all what I was expecting.
 
I just finished Splinter by Adam Roberts and was very underwhelmed by it. I found the characters, setting and story bland and it just didn't click with me at all. A shame as I had high hopes for it.

Now I'm reading Ragamuffin by Tobias Buckell. I though Crystal Rain was good and this certainly isn't disappointing. So far it's a great expansion of the setting and promises to be very good once the action kicks in :)
 
No new books for me either so a chance to welly into the TBR pile
Consider Phlebas by Iain M Banks is proving to be a jolly read. (For some reason I seem to be reading The Culture books backwards)
 
I got Old Man's War by Scalzi, Heroes Die by Stover and Battle Royale by Takami for Christmas.

I have already finished Old Man's War. It was good, but I can see why it is compared so directly to Heinlein. It is almost more than a homage to his writing style and subject matter. Also, a few plot points stick in my throat - if the Colonies are so advanced, why don't they fight with remotely-run or autonomous robot drones? Why use soldiers?

I am about halfway through Heroes Die, and this one I really like. I would call it a classic, even without having finished it. The pacing, plot, characters, etc. are all very good.

Battle Royale I am looking forward to. I am interested to see if it is just an exploitation novel, or really a "Lord of the Flies for the new generation" as I read somewhere. Either way it should be entertaining.
 
I'm halfway through Thirteen by Rickard K. Morgan. So far it's quite good. Next up on my list are Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell, The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod and Who? by Algis Budrys.

chitman13, should I start with Crystal Rain instead of Rag? I read an excerpt of Ragamuffin and it sounded pretty cool but I don't know if it's part of a series or not. I've not read Buckell before.
 
I'm reading Ragamuffin by Tobias Buckell. It's really enjoyable so far, more so than Crystal Rain was. While I liked CR, it took me awhile to get into it. I'm finding Ragamuffin much easier going.
 
icowdave: Crystal Rain is very different to Ragamuffin, so it really depends on your taste. Where Ragamuffin is space opera, Crystal Rain is more steampunk and, as ezchaos said, it can take a while to get into. It's still enjoyable though and I think it's probably going to be easier to read a loose series like this in order if for no other reason than to give background info. So far though the two don't link together other than the fact that they are in the same universe, but I've got a feeling that will change before I get to the end. So (here comes the useless info) it's entirely up to you!
 
OK, I'll stick to Ragamuffin then. Sounds like it might be the more approachable of the 2 and I've already got a copy. Thanks for the responses!
 
'Twisted Metal' - Tony Ballantyne

Hi all,

The new year has started pretty well for me :). I just learned that I won a giveaway on Graeme's Fantasy Book Review:

'Twisted Metal' - Tony Ballantyne

I've never read Ballantyne before so I'm very excited about the book. And it's an advance copy, which make me feel a little bit privileged :).

So I'm going to start to read it as soon as I get my copy :)

Happy New Year everyone!
 
Finished Ragamuffin by Tobias Buckell last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's interesting to see how he's taken the foundations he laid in Crystal Rain and put them into a very real and spectacular space opera setting. Introducing a new main character off the bat, one with a rather interesting history that we glimpse throughout, is a great way to show what is happening to humanity in the rest of the galaxy after New Anagada had been cut off. I enjoyed Buckell's characters very much and his dialogue (even when it switches flavour to a more carribean feel) is great. My main criticism with the book is that it isn't long enough and at times felt a little rushed, particularly from around the half way point onwards. Still, very good space opera and story flowed very well. I'm looking forward enormously to get my hands on Sly Mongoose!

Now on to Shadow of the Scorpion by Neal Asher (to read as a PDF) and possibly Earth Ascendant by Sean Williams or Black Magic Woman by Justin Gustainis.
 
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Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days by Alastair Reynolds - Two novellas set in his Revelation Space universe. I enjoyed both stories quite a bit. If you like the Revelation Space universe Turquoise Days explains a lot about the Pattern Jugglers.

The Real Story (Gap #1) - Stephen R. Donaldson - I've had this series on my shelf for years, decided to dive in even thought I have a severe issue with authors/publishers and their insatiable need to pump out multi-volume books/series (but that's another topic). I enjoyed it. Definitely a character set up story for the series as there wasn't much in the area of plot advancement, but Donaldson did a clever job telling the Real Story. One of the things about the novel that surprised me was the brutality and language. Angus Thermopyle is a real dirtbag. :eek:

Forbidden Knowledge (Gap #2) - Stephen R. Donaldson - Currently working on. More of a plot here, but it's moving a little slowly for my taste...but I'm still enjoying it. Despite my distaste for series I will probably make it through these 5 books as I've read that after the first book the series/story really picks up.
 
Just finished Old Man's War, very good book.. strongly recommend it. Though, it was a bit different than I thought it would be in the beginning, it ended up being what I had in mind later on. Not to say it wasn't interesting at first, though. :)

Going to be reading the next book in the series just after I finish The Well of Ascension, looking forward to that.
 
Thought it was about time that I got round to reading Dune it has been on my to read pile for what seems like forever, about 150 pages in, thought that it started slowly and I wasn't very impressed, but it has started to pick up in the last couple of chapters, and I am starting to enjoy it.
 
I finished two sf books finally in 09 after a string of 10 fantasies.

BioHell by A. Remic, sort of sequel to War Machine which I liked a lot. This one though is disappointing since it could have been any near sf mil thriller with some bells and whistles. It's still Keenan, Franco and Pipa, the Combat K trio and the enemy is still Leviathan, but everything happens in a city, fighting with high-tech zombies. Not my fare. I will check out the next book but I hope it gets back to epic, weird planets, mysterious characters and such, not a shoot them out story that are three a dime. Let down.

Steal Across the Sky by Nancy Kress - this one is excellent and a page turner so I stayed way too late last night to finish it. Mysterious aliens - calling themselves Atoners - come, set up base on Moon, put a Web ad: "need 21 humans to send as Witnesses/Observers in groups of 3, 1 on each of a twin planet, 1 to coordinate from orbit; we kidnapped humans 10k years ago and set up colonies on those worlds but also we committed a grievous wrong against humanity; safety and return passage guaranteed; they will know what is to Observe when they see it"

Millions apply and they select 21 young people but otherwise on a random - at least to us - basis regarding gender, education, marital history, record, credentials/job, and the first half is the story of one team of 3 observers, some natives of the 2 planets (one is a pastoral semi-bliss, one a primitive despotism based on a chess like game) and what is meant to be Observed.

The second part is about what happens when the observers come back to Earth and the epilogue like short final part ties in everything, though it's clear there is scope for a sequel.

No real world building, or deep characterization , but it's a 300 page idea sf and the characters as such are reasonably compelling. Major new sf and should be in award contention for 09

I do not want to spoil the main topic of the book, but as in Beggars in Spain, N. Kress explores a "big" what if, though here the "what if" itself is the mystery for a large part of the novel, while its implications are just scratched in the second part. I would truly enjoy a sequel fully looking at those implications...
 
Just finished Dan Simmons' Muse of Fire.

A mix of science fiction and Shakespeare. . . How can you go wrong!?!;)

Patrick
 
I made a comic break and read the first issue of the Farscape series published by BOOM! Studios. I have to say that I loved the TV show and now this comic series made me enjoy new adventures in this universe. The series will have 4 issues in total and I am looking forward to the other three :)
 
Finished Shadow of the Scorpion by Neal Asher the other day after a quick read. Very enjoyable and great to see such a well constructed novel when there is so much already written that it musn't mess with. Cormac's early life as an ECS recruit gives a perfect platform for another great story and I'm really pleased that it was a longer one than Prador Moon (but still shorter than the rest of Neal's work). If you're a fan of Neal's work you'll love this, but I equally think this is a great jumping on spot if you've never read anything by the always impressive Mr Asher :)
 
I finished Daemon by D. Suarez an uber-geek near future sf-ish thriller, with lots of computer/game jargon and lots of cool toys. Published independently under a pseudonym in 04-05, it built an underground following and got picked by a major as well as the sequel Freedom TM due 2010.

The book is at the top of its game, a page turner, darkly funny, and much, much better than Stross Halting State which was unreadable for me.

Rich uber-geek evil Matthew Sobol - or maybe not so evil - computer genius plots to take on the world. Standard fare but with a twist since Sobol has just died of brain cancer.

And the author hates spammers and corporate hierarchy with a passion, while after this book you will look differently at the cars traveling on your nearby highway :)

If you like this kind of books (Doctorow, Stross, upcoming WJW This is not a Game) this one is very well done, the action moves fast and the ending is excellent setting up the sequel which I definitely intend to read.
 
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